This series is designed to make available to a wider readership selected labour market, social policy and migration studies prepared for use within the OECD. Authorship is usually collective, but principal writers are named. The papers are generally available only in their original language - English or French - with a summary in the other.

Previous research has shown that fathers taking some time off work around childbirth, especially
periods of leave of 2 or more weeks, are more likely to be involved in childcare related activities than
fathers who do not do so. Furthermore, evidence suggests that children with fathers who are ‘more
involved’ perform better during the early years than their peers with less involved fathers. This paper
analyses data of four OECD countries — Australia; Denmark; United Kingdom; United States — to
describe how leave policies may influence father’s behaviours when children are young and whether their
involvement translates into positive child cognitive and behavioural outcomes. This analysis shows that
fathers’ leave, father’s involvement and child development are related. Fathers who take leave, especially
those taking two weeks or more, are more likely to carry out childcare related activities when children are
young. This study finds some evidence that children with highly involved fathers tend to perform better in
terms of cognitive test scores. Evidence on the association between fathers’ involvement and behavioural
outcomes was however weak. When data on different types of childcare activities was available, results
suggest that the kind of involvement matters. These results suggest that what matters is the quality and not
the quantity of father-child interactions.